Despite a minor setback due to heavy rainfall over the past week, work is progressing well on the West Highway 50 expansion project.
Kansas Department of Transportation District 1 Public Affairs Manager Kelly Kultala tells KVOE News excavation work began last week on the north side of US 50 to prepare for the construction of a temporary widening of the asphalt. Unfortunately, due to wet conditions over the past week, work had to be delayed as Kultala says the soil in the area cannot be compacted when wet.
As of Monday, crews were back on scene to continuing the widening efforts as the area continues to dry out.
The work is part of a delayed T-WORKS project for widening a portion of US Highway 50 west of Emporia from two lanes to four. The project was originally slated to take place back in 2011 as part of the 10-year, $8 billion T-WORKS program under Sam Brownback’s administration. T-WORKS has since been replaced by the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program (IKE) formerly known as FORWARD.
